The International Football Association Board (FIFA) on Tuesday imposed an interim ban on the All India Football Federation (AIFF) alleging undue third-party interference in the governance of Indian football.
Fifa has announced that the ban will come into effect immediately and has also announced that the Women’s Under-17 (U-17) World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in India in October, will not be held in the country.
This is the first time in the 85-year history of Indian football that AIFF has imposed such a ban. The move is seen as a major setback for India.
FIFA has taken this action in the context of the Supreme Court’s dismissal of long-time AIFF president Praful Patel, the formation of a committee of administrators to manage the federation, and under the guidance of the committee, the confederation’s elections are currently being conducted.
In this regard, FIFA said in a statement released on Tuesday:
The FIFA Council has unanimously decided to impose an interim ban on the Indian Football Federation as the undue 3rd party interference is in flagrant violation of FIFA rules.
Therefore, the U-17 Women’s World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in India between October 11 and 30, cannot be held in India as planned. FIFA is investigating the next steps regarding the tournament.
Also, during this ban period, none of the match officials, players and players of the Indian Federation will be able to participate in FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) tournaments and trainings. Indian clubs will also not be able to compete.
The order to manage the Federation of India by a Board of Directors (appointed by the Supreme Court) will be lifted and the ban on the day-to-day running of the Federation will be lifted if its Executive Committee starts to run it.
Also, the rules of the Indian Federation should be amended to be in line with FIFA and AFC and approved by the General Committee of the Indian Federation without any 3rd party intervention.
Apart from this, the election for the new Executive Committee of the Federation should be conducted by an independent polling committee appointed by the Indian Federation. The voting process should be conducted legally and in the same voting system as before (voting only state associations without giving voting rights to key players).
In a statement, FIFA said that FIFA is in constructive contact with the Indian Ministry of Sports regarding this matter.
Indian football circles have expressed shock at this move by FIFA.
Background
This matter had created a sensational atmosphere in the Indian football circle since last May. Praful Patel served three consecutive terms as the President of the Football Association of India. He was in that position for a total of 12 years. In this case, his tenure ended in December 2020. However, at that time he did not hold the polls and continued in office citing the Supreme Court judgment of 2017.
In 2016, the Delhi High Court, hearing a petition against his appointment as the president of the Samela, postponed his appointment. However, the Supreme Court heard the appeal in 2017 and ordered Praful Patel to continue as the president and appoint a committee of two to draft the rules of the association.
Noting that, he continued in office without holding election. In this case, many officials of the state football associations appealed to the Supreme Court against Praful Patel.
The Supreme Court intervened and removed Praful Patel from the post of Sammelana President and ordered the dissolution of the Executive Committee on May 18. Also, to manage the conference, it appointed a 3-member management committee headed by former Supreme Court judge AR Dave, former Chief Commissioner of India SY Qureshi and former captain of Indian football team Bhaskar Ganguly.
In general, FIFA does not allow 3rd party interventions such as government and courts in its member nations’ federations. In situations like the one in India, a committee has been set up to find a solution.
Therefore, FIFA, which did not accept the court’s intervention in the Indian Federation issue, kept warning India for it.
Meanwhile, the executive committee appointed by the court advised to hold the election for the federation on the 28th, along with the process of framing the rules for the federation. The Supreme Court has instructed the Executive Committee of the Indian Federation on the 3rd to hold the election on that date.
The governing body, which has appointed officials for the poll, has given voting rights to 36 major players apart from the state associations. In such an environment, now FIFA has banned the Indian Federation.
Appeal to the Supreme Court
In the wake of FIFA’s ban, an appeal has been filed in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Central Government to intervene in the matter. A bench comprising Justices TY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna will hear the matter on Wednesday.
Negotiation failed
Earlier, a 4-way committee approached FIFA regarding the issue and held talks with senior officials of the Union Sports Ministry on Friday and with the Board of Directors on Monday. While it was expected that an amicable decision could be reached, FIFA took the sanctioning action, sources in the Union Sports Ministry said.
However, the Center is committed to holding the U-17 Women’s World Cup in India after finding a solution to the issue as FIFA is still open to talks, the sources said.
Board of Directors approval
A few hours before FIFA imposed the ban, the board of trustees had said that it would accept its instructions and agree to conduct the confederation polls without giving voting rights to important players. However, the group has said that it is unfortunate that FIFA imposed such a ban at the moment of reaching a solution without accepting it.
The impact of the ban…
With this ban imposed by FIFA, Indian football faces an uncertain future. Indian men’s team to face Vietnam, Singapore in friendlies in September; India’s Gokulam Kerala will participate in the AFC Women’s Club Championship on the 23rd; AFC Cup inter-zonal semi-final against India’s premier club ATK Mohan Bagan on September 7; India’s participation in the AFC Under-20 qualifiers on September 14 has also been affected.